In a first for a Scottish Parliamentary election, the majority of major parties have endorsed tenement law reform.
Ahead of the Holyrood election, the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Labour, and Greens have explicitly mentioned supporting reforms to help tenement flat owners organise repairs in their 2026 manifestos.
This follows campaigning work from the Tenement Action Group (TAG), which asked each party to make a commitment to support the three recommendations made by the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Tenement Maintenance Working Group:
- Establishment of compulsory owners’ associations
- Obligation for tenements to be inspected every five years
- Establishment of building reserve funds
TAG members, whose membership includes architects, surveyors, flat owners, and other housing professionals from across the sector, believe that enacting these recommendations will result in well-maintained buildings providing warm homes, affordable maintenance bills, and enhanced resilience to deal with future repairs.
BEFS, the umbrella body for organisations working in Scotland’s built environment and TAG member, has published a party manifesto round-up which summarises the positions of each major political party on issues related to BEF’s 2026 Manifesto for the Built Environment.
The SNP have committed to reform the Tenements (Scotland) Act, while the Liberal Democrats specifically mention support for the introduction of mandatory owners’ associations, building reserve funds, and building inspections.
Scottish Labour have promised to speed up progress on tenement maintenance reforms, and widen eligibility for financial help for retrofit, and the Scottish Greens have committed to make it easier for tenement flat owners to manage repairs, maintenance and retrofit, specifically supporting mandatory owners’ associations.
Mike Heffron, Chief Executive of Scotland’s tenement charity Under One Roof and TAG member, said: “The successful work of the Tenement Action Group to get a majority of Scotland’s major political parties to make explicit commitments on tenement law reform is an excellent outcome for the 900,000 tenement flat owners in Scotland.
“These flat owners will be expecting reforms to be quickly enacted to ensure their homes are warm, and their buildings well-maintained, for many decades to come.”
Hazel Johnson, Director of Built Environment Forum Scotland said: “Across the new term of the Scottish Parliament BEFS will continue to advocate for tenement reform and the recommendations of the Tenement Maintenance Working Group – and how these can deliver cross cutting benefits in addressing the climate emergency, achieving net zero, and keeping Scotland’s homes warm, comfortable, and wind and watertight.
“We look forward to supporting further cross-party efforts to leverage the value of the built environment and deliver tangible positive outcomes for our people and places.”
